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    A "small software company with 1 product" probably doesn't have multiple levels of management, and quite possibly the existing managers don't have formal education in management. Commented Mar 23, 2016 at 17:01
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    I do not find that hard to believe at all. Most likely the failure to meet sprint goals doesn't cause acute problems because features are still being delivered fast enough for the business side to work reasonably well, maybe because the product doesn't have much competition in its niche and sales don't depend on promising new features and delivering them on time. Commented Mar 23, 2016 at 17:29
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    @Orca: In 18 months, you should've been able to cut down the size, scope and number of stories to the point where you achieved some success. I would think 3 sprints is a reasonable amount of time to figure out the smallest pieces of work you can accomplish in a sprint. Once you achieve that, use what you've learned and build up slowly. Build up of the competencies of the team you have. and remember: This is a team sport, not just the developers, but the scrum master, the folks responsible for the product and feature descriptions, QA, etc. all need to work on the solution. Commented Mar 23, 2016 at 19:15
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    Having worked in a one-product-shop before, there is more pressure to "fill the bucket" than there is in a bigger place with different and shifting priorities. It's possible the devs are afraid to say no even though the things that should go in plus the 'flavor of the month' things from management are more than they can deliver on. It takes a lot of guts to tell the CEO no, no matter the size of the company. Commented Mar 23, 2016 at 19:23
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    The thing is, "success" in creating a product is never measured in terms of how much spare time you had at the end of a fortnight. If at the end of each sprint, you delivered working software, then the excess stories you planned into the sprint are irrelevant. They'll be picked up next sprint, so what! You're defining your team's success solely by how well they are fitting to the bureaucracy of the methodology. That is not Agile. @bmarguiles has it right - scrum is a guide, not holy scripture. Commented Mar 24, 2016 at 11:52